I come from England, we don't HAVE any insects that can kill you. That's one of the reasons I like living here. So I'm pretty terrified now.

Does anyone have any advice to prevent getting bitten and stung? I mean obviously not going barefoot is pretty important. But I'm particularly worried about the idea of one of the little blighters getting into my tent and hanging out until I get back and then biting the shit out of me.

NOthing much lives in the Black Rock Desert, brine shrimp in the winter. There are, I believe, scorpians, but I've never heard of anyone being stung. They are a pretty rare site. The basic deal is that it's not a good place to live. And there are no plants, so there's nothing for animals to eat, so there's nothing for scorpians to eat, either.So, start being afraid of people giving you roofies and blaring dubstep. And dehydration. Get in the habit of drinking lots of water.

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

In 14 years I have never seen a scorpion on the playa. Remember that the playa is not a normal "desert" - it is a prehistoric dry alkali lake bed. There are a very few bugs that can be found there, more so in the spring than in late August, but it is pretty inhospitable for most insects and arachnids. I have seen more bugs there that hitchhiked in in peoples gear than are indigenous. We did have a kangaroo rat in camp for most of the week last year that we fed and gave water to - he headed for the hills about mid-week.

Surprisingly, you'll find very, very little in the way of life on the playa during the event. In the off-season it's teaming with life and frequently under-water, but at the time of year that Burning Man takes place, it's such a dry, harsh, inhospitable climate that you're not going to find much (if any) life out there. The occasional dragonfly (not all of which are hallucinations), and if there's rain in the forecast maybe the rare mantis or grasshopper, but probably not much else.

Thank you guys, I feel reassured. If I even SAW a scorpion, or any kind of freaky desert spider (solifugae *shudders*) I'd scream so loud that my mother back in England would hear.

I'm not great with bugs in general, including the ones that pose no actual threat to me.

My boyfriend also just said "Get a tent with a built in groundsheet" so I'm going to look at doing that too. He has slightly more camping experience than I do.

(Ahahahahaha "more camping experience than I do." My "camping experience" consists of three days in a field when I was seventeen. My learning curve at BM is gonna be steeeeep. Don't worry though, I'm not an idiot, I fully realise that the environment demands my respect and I'm researching desert survival in my other browser right now. Getting dehydrated or suffering heat stroke are NOT things I want on my to-do list at BM.)

BeyondIndigo wrote:(Ahahahahaha "more camping experience than I do." My "camping experience" consists of three days in a field when I was seventeen. My learning curve at BM is gonna be steeeeep. Don't worry though, I'm not an idiot, I fully realise that the environment demands my respect and I'm researching desert survival in my other browser right now. Getting dehydrated or suffering heat stroke are NOT things I want on my to-do list at BM.)

You weren't doing that wacky Prince Philip Challenge thing, were you?

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

In a big wind, any small critter that lives along the west margin of the lakebed might get blown across the playa -- insects, other arthropods, mice and whatnot. Hordes of praying mantises have been seen in previous years. Horseflies and such are more common in July, but you might see them in August in a wet year.

If you want to stalk the wily solifuge, visit the DPW depot at night and chat up the person on night shift. They start gathering soon after they start keeping the floodlights on at night. Plus your typical flying insects, and whatever got trucked in with the wood piles.

So practically speaking, insects and such are about as rare as bedbugs in Manhattan.

BeyondIndigo wrote:Thank you guys, I feel reassured. If I even SAW a scorpion, or any kind of freaky desert spider (solifugae *shudders*) I'd scream so loud that my mother back in England would hear.

I'm not great with bugs in general, including the ones that pose no actual threat to me.

My boyfriend also just said "Get a tent with a built in groundsheet" so I'm going to look at doing that too. He has slightly more camping experience than I do.

(Ahahahahaha "more camping experience than I do." My "camping experience" consists of three days in a field when I was seventeen. My learning curve at BM is gonna be steeeeep. Don't worry though, I'm not an idiot, I fully realise that the environment demands my respect and I'm researching desert survival in my other browser right now. Getting dehydrated or suffering heat stroke are NOT things I want on my to-do list at BM.)

HAHA! They lured you into FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY! That's not very nice, you guys!

Just bring plenty of DEET. I forgot my DEET last time and found this monstrosity in my bed:

BeyondIndigo wrote:Thank you guys, I feel reassured. If I even SAW a scorpion, or any kind of freaky desert spider (solifugae *shudders*) I'd scream so loud that my mother back in England would hear.

I'm not great with bugs in general, including the ones that pose no actual threat to me.

My boyfriend also just said "Get a tent with a built in groundsheet" so I'm going to look at doing that too. He has slightly more camping experience than I do.

(Ahahahahaha "more camping experience than I do." My "camping experience" consists of three days in a field when I was seventeen. My learning curve at BM is gonna be steeeeep. Don't worry though, I'm not an idiot, I fully realise that the environment demands my respect and I'm researching desert survival in my other browser right now. Getting dehydrated or suffering heat stroke are NOT things I want on my to-do list at BM.)

HAHA! They lured you into FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY! That's not very nice, you guys!

Just bring plenty of DEET. I forgot my DEET last time and found this monstrosity in my bed:[img]snipped[/img]

BeyondIndigo wrote:(Ahahahahaha "more camping experience than I do." My "camping experience" consists of three days in a field when I was seventeen. My learning curve at BM is gonna be steeeeep. Don't worry though, I'm not an idiot, I fully realise that the environment demands my respect and I'm researching desert survival in my other browser right now. Getting dehydrated or suffering heat stroke are NOT things I want on my to-do list at BM.)

You weren't doing that wacky Prince Philip Challenge thing, were you?

LOL the Duke of Edinburgh Award? No. I used to belong to a Christian youth group in my young days and we all went to this big Christian festival.

I spent the entire time acting extremely Un-Christian. I left the group a couple of months later.

But yeah, that's my only camping experience to date. Still I'm at least attempting to get my head aroung the basic principles, unlike my boyfriend (who hasn't yet decided if he's coming) who keeps asking me things like "So will you at least be able to charge your phone?" There are only so many times you can say "I will be in THE DESERT. You know, the actual DESERT...? Like in those documentaries?"

Then I showed him the desert on Google Maps. I demonstrated that I can do at least five scrolls in either direction on my ipad and it's all BLANK SPACE. I THINK he's starting to get it now.

At the moment my largest concern is about the environment once I get there. Camping for three days in England, which is quite a temperate country (unless you listen to English people talking about the weather. Never listen to English people talking about the weather. Truthfully we have no clue what bad weather really is, but complaining about the weather is like our national pastime) is, I anticipate, quite different to camping on an unforgiving, dry ancient lake bed with dust storms and ridiculous temperature extremes where you can get headstroke, dehydration, playa foot, playa LUNG, altitude sickness...

I have no intention of not taking this environment incredibly seriously.

BeyondIndigo wrote:my boyfriend (who hasn't yet decided if he's coming) who keeps asking me things like "So will you at least be able to charge your phone?" There are only so many times you can say "I will be in THE DESERT. You know, the actual DESERT...? Like in those documentaries?"

You might want to give him the heads up that not only will you be unable to charge your phone (unless you bring along a way to do it), you will be really lucky if you can even call out. I'm on Sprint & my coverage gets real spotty after Nixon (one of the last towns when you're heading north), other carriers vary. None give coverage that could even remotely be called "functional".

It's a camping trip in the desert, not the redemption of the fallen world - Cryptofishist

BeyondIndigo wrote:But yeah, that's my only camping experience to date. Still I'm at least attempting to get my head aroung the basic principles, unlike my boyfriend (who hasn't yet decided if he's coming) who keeps asking me things like "So will you at least be able to charge your phone?" There are only so many times you can say "I will be in THE DESERT. You know, the actual DESERT...? Like in those documentaries?"

Then I showed him the desert on Google Maps. I demonstrated that I can do at least five scrolls in either direction on my ipad and it's all BLANK SPACE. I THINK he's starting to get it now.

Hee.

At the moment my largest concern is about the environment once I get there. Camping for three days in England, which is quite a temperate country (unless you listen to English people talking about the weather. Never listen to English people talking about the weather. Truthfully we have no clue what bad weather really is, but complaining about the weather is like our national pastime) is, I anticipate, quite different to camping on an unforgiving, dry ancient lake bed with dust storms and ridiculous temperature extremes where you can get headstroke, dehydration, playa foot, playa LUNG, altitude sickness...

I have no intention of not taking this environment incredibly seriously.

Good! Prepare to the teeth, suspend expectations, be ready to bend so you don't break . . . you're quite likely to be fine. Probably more than fine, but I don't like to over-promise.

BeyondIndigo wrote:At the moment my largest concern is about the environment once I get there. Camping for three days in England, which is quite a temperate country (unless you listen to English people talking about the weather. Never listen to English people talking about the weather. Truthfully we have no clue what bad weather really is, but complaining about the weather is like our national pastime) is...

My sister seems to have picked up that one. Are there any other signs I should look for as symptomatic of Creeping Englishness?

btw--where are you? I know, England, but there is someone on this board in london and another in Wales. We like to orchestrate meetings of burners over there because we think that the little explosions keep the country healthy.

The Lady with a Lamprey

"The powerful are exploiting people, art and ideas, and this leads to us plebes debating how to best ration ice.Man, no wonder they always win....." Lonesomebri

BeyondIndigo wrote:At the moment my largest concern is about the environment once I get there. Camping for three days in England, which is quite a temperate country (unless you listen to English people talking about the weather. Never listen to English people talking about the weather. Truthfully we have no clue what bad weather really is, but complaining about the weather is like our national pastime) is...

My sister seems to have picked up that one. Are there any other signs I should look for as symptomatic of Creeping Englishness?

btw--where are you? I know, England, but there is someone on this board in london and another in Wales. We like to orchestrate meetings of burners over there because we think that the little explosions keep the country healthy.

Creeping Englishness...sounds like a medical term! Hahaha.

Signs of creeping Englishness: Our slang is pretty insidious. Things like "bin", "jumper" and "pram" (respectively: trash can, sweater and stroller.) I have been to America twice before and it was quite amusing how many words are different despite the shared language.

Also a fondness for tea. First things on my list for BM are proper English tea bags, sugar and powdered milk. I plan on giving free, properly brewed English tea to any Burners who might stop by my tent. It's only the proper thing to do, old chap.

(my boyfriend: "So where will you plug in the kettle?" *facepalm*)

Oh, and immense patience with waiting in line and accepting terrible customer service as the norm

Is your sister in England then?

I am in York, which is pretty darn far from both London and Wales. I also have issues in planning things because I work shifts, so I don't have any time that I DEFINITELY know I will be free. Which kinda sucks but I do it for the love of the job.

There is a shelf-stable, boxed brand of milk in the U.S. that requires no refrigeration and is (in my non-British opinion) much better than powdered, if you would prefer liquid form--Horizon Farms organic milk. It's in the juice aisle next to the juice boxes.